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When I saw the news on facebook or instagram this was coming back for a limited time, it was striking at least 90% of the comments were to the effect it should return permanently. From my perspective Soarin' Over California is a better ride, yes. Not overwhelmingly though. Not in a landslide. Variety is great - let's have them both. Let's alternate them monthly, or annually.

Fun fact Alien Pizza Planet has ice in the shape of aeration pellets never seen before in the history of ice. I was awestruck.

Karl for president.
This guy is in a class all his own. What a legend.

A few reports ago I lamented the death of the non-Fastpass ride for our group. Happy to report we rode some firsts for youngest today (firsts within memory that is - he was 4 and 1/2 last time we had passes). Among those firsts were: Peter Pan's Flight, Alice in Wonderland, Astro Orbiter, Jumpin' Jellyfish, Dumbo, & Soarin' Over CA.

It was such an extraordinary day at the resort. Moderate crowds, fantastic weather, good food. We eased from one thing to the next. For the late Fantasmic! daughter had a beignet 3 pack and boy a churro and we sat on the steps near the Tom Sawyer loading dock. We three alone among thousands.
Recent reports haven't included ride logs because if I don't write the report within a day or two of the visit or make record of what we did, with my age and memory it's lost to history. So this time, I delegated: on the ride home, dear daughter and youngest and I debriefed on the day's events and she wrote down the ride/ attraction order:

We were at the resort 7:30am to 7:30pm. The two boys took on the challenge of riding every ride in DCA before noon. In a matter of just 3 and a half hours, they had nearly done so. Oldest sent me this ride list: Soarin', RSR, TSMM, Incredicoaster, Goofy's, Guardians, Monsters, GRR, Ariel's, Golden Zephyr, JJ, Silly Symphony, Pixar Pal Around, Jessie's.

Hunger got the best of them and they skipped the final two (Mater's and Luigi's) to head over to Alien Pizza Planet for lunch.
We spent most of the afternoon in Disneyland and dipped into DCA again briefly before heading home.

Daughter discovered a digital camera among our electronics at the house that are no longer in use. She's intrigued now with using it, especially at Disneyland Resort. The pics in this post are her first attempt at photography with something other than a camera phone.

She and I were at the resort 6pm to 12:30am. She composed a ride log on the drive home. Here it is:

We entered SWGE a few minutes before 6:00 to find these two keeping lookout.

Youngest claimed he'd spend this entire trip riding Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run for six straight hours in a continuous loop. When it became apparent that would yield about 30 rides or more in six hours, he changed his tune. Disclaimer: everyone should experience the standby queue at least once. That said, there is such a huge disparity between wait times (standby vs. single rider) that single rider is irresistible.

After three rides on Smuggler's Run in about 40 minutes, it was time for a jaunt on BTMRR and dinner and, what else ... chicken fusilli at Alien Pizza Planet.

He raised this discussion on the train "Dad, what's your favorite land in the parks?" What a question. They're all great (Toontown excluded). But after some thought I came to the realization and told him "It's the one we're headed to right now - New Orleans Square." Doesn't get any better than the favorite ride of my childhood (Pirates) coupled with the favorite ride of my adulthood (Haunted Mansion). His retort - "Mine is Batuu." Sounds about right.

In all we made three separate trips into Batuu last night, and 8 rides on Smuggler's Run. One occasion there was no one in the single rider line but us and standby had emptied out for a moment, so we got to pilot a ship without any gunners or engineers. We killed, getting at least a couple coaxiums and making it into the bonus asteroid sequence.

Your attention, please. The Disneyland Limited now leaving for a grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom. Aboaaard!

As luck had it, the little fella found this Hidden Mickey book at Disneyana on the way in. Looking for hidden Mickeys was a great diversion from the alternative: waiting in really long lines. He did great spotting this one in Ranch Del Zocalo:

Maynard was kind enough to explain the Tiki Room CM's no longer wear the shirts they did when that Hidden Mickey's book was published, hence there's not a hidden Mickey to locate on the current one. Which may also explain not finding the Tarzan's Tree House hidden Mickey. The resort and its hidden Mickey's aren't all the same as 4 and a half years ago when the book was published. The book is dated and in need of an update.

We timed our second ride on Storybook Land Canal Boats perfectly so we were in the water at 9:30 when the fireworks began. Our boat stopped mid-ride and we watched the show from there.

Your attention, please. The Disneyland Limited now leaving for a grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom. Aboaaard!

Such a fun thread to read! Super jelly (as the cool kids say these days ) of all the family time you get to spend at the Happiest place on Earth! Will be going with my BFF in November, and you gave me a few new things to check out! Beautiful fam, BTW!

Such a fun thread to read! Super jelly (as the cool kids say these days ) of all the family time you get to spend at the Happiest place on Earth! Will be going with my BFF in November, and you gave me a few new things to check out! Beautiful fam, BTW!

Thank you for the kind words. We went 2016, 2017, & 2018 without stepping foot in the parks. So there's an eagerness to go and go now that we can.

Your attention, please. The Disneyland Limited now leaving for a grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom. Aboaaard!

This was the day we were a party of 11. Our family of 5, and oldest son brought 6 of his closest 14 year old friends. The AP bring a friend promo saved them each $100 off what is normally a $199 one day park hopper. I sprung for a few extra MaxPasses so the party of 9 kids had enough for the group, and off they went.

Pretty epic day of parkhopping. Some pictures of it are here. Daughter convinced the girls to join her for dinner at Lamplight. The boys got in for dinner at Carnation Cafe. Besides that, the group of kids hardly split up. I spent the day jockeying for fastpasses on the Disneyland App. Arranging all those rides was not easy.

July 21

Two youngests and I went to the parks from about 4 to 11. This was the first of two consecutive Sunday evenings in the parks.
Youngest was giving me the business which wasn't helpful since I wasn't feeling the Disney vibe all that much to begin with. The following Sunday was far more enjoyable ...

July 28

4 to 11:30. All five of us made the trip. The two boys were together and separate from us the entire night; daughter was with them the first few hours then joined wife and me for the rest of the trip. Like the July 18 trip, wife and I got to browse and wander around at our own pace without any pressure to be anywhere particular. Tonight we strolled through the shops, through DownTown Disney, split a sammy at Earl of Sandwich, rode an occasional ride, shared a waffle cone at Gibson Girl, shopped some more, people watched.
It's so great to have 14yo along which allows the adults to be 'off duty'. He's happy to do the heavy lifting of watching and getting 8yo on rides ... Hey, be my guest.

July 30

1 to 8:30.

For this trip I was most definitely back on duty as it was just youngest and me. We kicked off the fun at Guardians of the Galaxy.

A quick trip in to the Challenge Trail then back to Animation Academy to draw BB8, which according the CM is among the most popular animation classes they offer. He suggested arriving at least 20 minutes early. Ben asked for and received the artist's copy:

Before we rode Incredicoaster and Soarin' he asked if a reservation at Carnation was available. To my surprise it was, and frankly it was nice to have the chance to eat somewhere other than Pizza Planet for a change. Also a nice surprise: the Apple Pie Milkshake was available through the end of July.

Fun fact: when the little fella and I spent the day at the resort 4th of July, we attempted three separate times to walk in and get a table at Carnation, mainly to sample the Apple Pie Milkshake. But the restaurant was completely booked all three times. I had no idea the shake was available beyond Independence Weekend but happened to mention it to the server.

After dinner we finished out the night with Hyperspace Mountain, Splash Mountain, Smuggler's Run 2x, Tarzan's Tree House, BTMRR, and RSR.

Before the blockouts get lifted August 16 we hope to make another run at the 52 ride challenge. Daughter has an all day all girls friend park hopping day coming right up .... then the premiere of MSEP is a can't miss appointment .... we'll also be trying to get our hands on some HM 50th merch Aug. 8 & 9 even though we're not attending either after hours party. It's been a busy/ fun summer, with an even busier next 10 days.

Your attention, please. The Disneyland Limited now leaving for a grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom. Aboaaard!

Daughter arranged a 12yo girls trip with three of her friends and we were in the parks 8:30am to 12:15am. We lucked into finding a photographer before World of Color and he did a mini photo shoot. Great pictures. Here's one he used a special lens on:

Both groups of teen/tweenagers I took to the park spent the majority of their 15+ hour day in DCA. I mention it only because there's been such an effort by Disney to restrict AP access to DLP this summer. I guess that for that age demographic, the DCA rides have slightly more appeal even though the number of rides in DLP is double that of DCA.

Your attention, please. The Disneyland Limited now leaving for a grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom. Aboaaard!

Thanks. Same here. But I took a lot of pictures that night. You’re seeing the few that turned out.

Originally Posted by britdisneyfan

These trip reports are really great. Was there a reason you did not go back for years (if you don't mind me asking? ) Did you go to WDW in that time or no Disney at all?

Thank you. Late 2015 we bought a new house and were buried up to our eyeballs in pool, yard, and home projects for awhile. And no we didn’t visit any Disney parks for those 3 years.

I purchased the APs February of 2018 but chose not to activate til 2019 (technically 12-31-18 but still) partly because our school shortened our 2018 summer by a full two weeks. In 2019 we got the two weeks back so the timing was better.

Your attention, please. The Disneyland Limited now leaving for a grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom. Aboaaard!

The boys spent the day together in the park 9:00 to 8:30 without us and had a grand time, riding GRR among many others ...

They had lunch at Alien Pizza Planet and dinner at Carnation. Wife, daughter, and I joined them after dinner and we all stayed til midnight. Our view of the Electrical Parade from a bench at City Hall:

Your attention, please. The Disneyland Limited now leaving for a grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom. Aboaaard!

Although we couldn't make it to the resort until 5:00 because we're back in school, the opportunity to celebrate Haunted Mansion's 50 years of greatness was irresistible. The significance of the day was not lost on Disney enthusiasts: Of the 30 or so times I've been at the resort this year, today was easily the most crowded I've seen DLP.
I stood in line to get in at Port Royal for a half hour at around 6:00. Ended up with a 50th anny hoody. Later I showed it to daughter and she fell in love with it and went to get herself one. By now it was 8:00 and the Port Royal line was over an hour long. She wasn't deterred, though, and waited in it and got the sweatshirt. We also picked up some collectible tee's at Disneyana, where the lines were not short either.

Me and the little guy in a doombuggy:

Couldn't be happier we made the trip for this chilling challenge. New Orleans Square is great ... Haunted Mansion, the greatest.

Happy 50th Birthday to the 999 Happy Haunts.

Your attention, please. The Disneyland Limited now leaving for a grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom. Aboaaard!

As has been the pattern a few trips, daughter spends an hour or two with her brothers at the start. When she reaches her limit, she joins wife and me.

At Lamplight Lounge, the three of us split a couple lobster nacho plates but without the lobster. One with carne asada; one with pollo asada.

A few sights from the resort:

priced at $32,000.

In DownTown Disney, the shakes at Crazy Shakes are bananas:

and the shake assembly is quite a spectacle. Someday we'll get one - when 3 of us are committed to a single flavor, because it'll take that many of us to finish one. Holy cow.

This was a nice find at Harbour Galley:

Although we didn't get it (since we were committed to lobster nachos and kept our eyes on that prize) I hit up Costco the following morning for peel and eat shrimp and we made our own. Delightful as ever.

Your attention, please. The Disneyland Limited now leaving for a grand circle tour of the Magic Kingdom. Aboaaard!

Great pics. Your daughter did a great job with the camera. I live outside Philly so I usually go to Disney World but I have been to Disneyland about 4 or 5 times. I love being able to walk back and forth between the parks. I also like staying onsite and walking into the parks. I ish Disney World offer d Max pass as an extra to the fast pass system. I would definitely pay for that. Thanks for sharing your pics

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